What we can learn from people who have less

Today I want to share a great movie with you all. It is called “A street cat named Bob”.

A friend of mine gave it to me a couple of years ago, but I have to be honest, since I don’t watch many DVDs these days, it took me a while.

In this blog entry, I will write about specific sequences of the film, so in case you are planning to whatch it soon and don´t want to get spoilered, now would be a really great time to do so.

About the movie

The movie is about a young drug addict who lives on the streets of London. Without any money or shelter he tries to stay alive. He is able to make a little money by playing his guitar at Convent Garden and never loses faith that some day his life will be better.

After another relapse, the lady of the program who helps him to get clean listens to him play. She believes that he can make it if he gets off the streets and she puts in a lot of effort to find him an emergency home. After a few nights in his new unit he hears strange noises in the kitchen. Carefully and armed with a shoe he geos looking for the cause. Sitting on his kitchen floor is a ginger cat, eating his cornflakes. Although he doesn’t know it yet, this cat is about to turn his whole life upside down.

The movie gives an impressive insight in the life of a homless person who struggles with drug addiction. The story itself is really inspiring.  For example, It motivated me to playing my guitar again more often, so one day i will become as good as him and it encouraged me to never lose faith. 

Love deeply

When he found this injured cat, he named it Bob and wanted to save it even though he himself had so little. He asked around, if someone could help him and a neighbour of his, Betty, told him to go to the charity vet she volunteers at.

Unfortunately, the antibiotics which Bob needed costed 22 pounds and so he faced the decision, if he would risk the wound of the cat getting infected or if he would use his last food money to pay for the medicine.

Even though he can barely survive himself he tries everything to give the cat a good life. He even played his guitar on the street once to be able to buy food, although he could be arrested for busking at the time.

These sequences really got me thinking, since I want to take care of the things and people I love too. Like when I travelled with my guitar from Australia to Austria, I watched out for it as if it was a part of my body. Unfortunately, I can’t have pets where I live, but I have quite a view plants, so I thought I could take care of them as much as I would of an animal.

I also want to love the people around me more deeply and be more engaged with them. I imagine my love being like a bubble, and I am in its centre and then I try to widen that bubble so my loved ones fit into my space of love.

Be grateful

I found it amazing how grateful he was, when he first moved into his new home and realised that there was hot water coming out of the tap. Every bite of food made him really happy and he didn´t care how fancy it was.

In todays age we got used to everything only being a single grab away and we often don´t appreciate how much we have.

Maybe you were going through a tough time of life once and when it finally ended, you felt like the happiest person on earth and were grateful for every tree you saw. Everything you took for granted before was now a little miracle to you.

But what can you do to be more grateful for the things and beings in your life again?
Are you supposed to put yourself in a bad situation deliberately or give away everything you have?

Well no, of course not. For starters it could help to brainstorm all the things which you are grateful for once a day. It is part of my morning routine to write down at least five things I am grateful for. They are not supposed to be big things like your home or your family. No, I think about the last couple of days and write down the little things of life I am grateful for like “A friend sent me a heart warming text” or “I made myself an amazing pizza”.

Remember, he had nothing! He only had his guitar, a backpack and himself, but he was grateful for everything he had.  

Have Faith

He didn’t lose faith about his life being better someday.

I believe that everyone of us has a dream, a passion, or simply something they are fighting for or working towards. Try to have that same faith. You will make it happen! Do something which will get you closer to your goal each day and even if it is just a phone call. The important thing is that you don´t stop.

If you are going through a tough time have faith, that it is not forever and like so many other things in life this will pass too. You can not decide what happens in life, but you can choose your attitude.

I really hope that you found some value in this blog entry. If you did, it would mean the world to me if you left a commen or sent me an email. Thank you so much for visiting my page.